ohn, the second, for the composition of which we must apply to his
respected descendant.
The authors I find quoted are Barbette's Surgery, Camerarius on Gout, and
Wecherus, of all whom notices may be found in the pages of Haller and
Vanderlinden; also, Reed's Surgery, and Nicholas Culpeper's Practice of
Physic and Anatomy, the last as belonging to Samuel Seabury, chirurgeon,
before mentioned. Nicholas Culpeper was a shrewd charlatan, and as
impudent a varlet as ever prescribed for a colic; but knew very well what
he was about, and badgers the College with great vigor. A copy of
Spigelius's famous Anatomy, in the Boston Athenaeum, has the names of
Increase and Samuel Mather written in it, and was doubtless early
overhauled by the youthful Cotton, who refers to the great anatomist's
singular death, among his curious stories in the "Magnalia," and quotes
him among nearly a hundred authors whom he cites in his manuscript "The
Angel of Bethesda." Dr. John Clark's "books and instruments, with
several chirurgery materials in the closet," a were valued in his
inventory at sixty pounds; Dr. Matthew Fuller, who died in 1678, left a
library valued at ten pounds; and a surgeon's chest and drugs valued at
sixteen pounds.'
Here we leave the first century and all attempts at any further detailed
accounts of medicine and its practitioners. It is necessary to show in a
brief glance what had been going on in Europe during the latter part of
that century, the first quarter of which had been made illustrious in the
history of medical science by the discovery of the circulation.
Charles Barbeyrac, a Protestant in his religion, was a practitioner and
teacher of medicine at Montpellier. His creed was in the way of his
obtaining office; but the young men followed his instructions with
enthusiasm. Religious and scientific freedom breed in and in, until it
becomes hard to tell the family of one from that of the other. Barbeyrac
threw overboard the old complex medical farragos of the pharmacopoeias,
as his church had disburdened itself of the popish ceremonies.
Among the students who followed his instructions were two Englishmen: one
of them, John Locke, afterwards author of an "Essay on the Human
Understanding," three years younger than his teacher; the other, Thomas
Sydenham, five years older. Both returned to England. Locke, whose
medical knowledge is borne witness to by Sydenham, had the good fortune
to form a correct opinion on a dise
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